Police investigating ‘hate crimes’ against Utah have recording of racial slur
Police investigating racist incidents directed toward the Utah women’s basketball team last month during the NCAA Tournament say they have found an audio recording in which the use of a racial slur is clearly audible.The Coeur d’Alene police department said in a Wednesday post on Facebook that it is looking at the “context and conduct” to determine if there was a violation of law. Police said they are still reviewing evidence from the 21 March incidents, but it appears that a racial slur was used more than once.Police said they’ve collected about 35 hours of video from businesses in the area, and that video and audio corroborates reports from members of the Utah basketball program. Police said detectives are working to locate any additional evidence and gather information on suspects. Detectives also are trying to identify a silver car that was in the area at the time.
After Utah’s loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the tournament on 25 March, Utes coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of “racial hate crimes” and were forced to change hotels due to safety concerns.
Utah played their games in Spokane, but were staying about 30 miles away in Coeur d’Alene, due to a lack of hotel space in the host city.
Tony Stewart, an official with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, has said the Utes were walking from their hotel to a restaurant when a pickup truck with a Confederate flag drove up and the driver began using racist language. After the team left the restaurant, the same driver returned “reinforced by others”, Stewart said, and they revved their engines and again yelled at the players.Utah filed a police report the night of the incidents. Coeur d’Alene police chief Lee White said last week that about 100 people were in the area that night. He has said there are two state charges that could be enforced – malicious harassment and disorderly conduct – if someone is arrested. White also said he was working with the FBI.Farright extremists have maintained a presence in the region for years. In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.When a resolution denouncing racism and hate speech in response to the incident with the team was introduced in the Idaho Senate last week, several Republican senators expressed doubts about the accounts or said they were unfamiliar with the situation. They debated for about 30 minutes before voting to approve the resolution.